Teasing comb



Nov. 5, 1968 Filed Jan. 20, 1966 INVENTOR J TQ C) United States Patent 3,409,029 TEASING COMB Roland A. Kum a, 2915 Wood Ave., El Paso County, Colo. Filed Jan. 20, 1966, Ser. No. 521,977 2 Claims. (Cl. 132133) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hair styling comb having a Y-shaped body with a plurality of teeth in opposing relation on the inside edges of the divergent legs of the body and having a third leg member with comb teeth on both sides thereof disposed so as to bridge the divergent legs of the Y-shaped body.

The present invention relates to a hair comb and more specifically to a comb having features for special hair styling purposes.

Womens hair styles of the recent past have popularized the effect and appearance given to the hair by backcombing or teasing. In normal combing, the comb teeth are drawn through the hair in a direction from the scalp outwardly toward the hair ends in order to array the hairs in a generally parallel and regulated interrelationship for sake of a styled and groomed appearance. It has been discovered, however, that by reversing the normal combing direction the hair may be systematically matted in order to give greater dimension and variety to hair stylings than theretofor possible. In view of the fact that the hair must, to some extent, be anchored at the end from which the combing strokes are begun, it is necessary that the lock of hair which is to be teased be hand held at or near the end thereof. As the comb is repeatedly drawn through the lock being held, the short and then progressively longer strands are crumpled onto the top of the head forming a mat whose density and height vary according to the downward pressures and precise technique used in the combing.

By selective and imaginative repetition of the procedure over all or that portion of the hair to be treated, the hair stylist can create height, body and design which is not possible with ordinary methods.

It will be apparent, however, that even though the backcombing process has certain advantages it can be substantially more time consuming and require more skill in its execution than straight combing and brushing. In fact, the time element forces the stylist to subdivide the hair into fewer and consequently larger locks for individual backcombing in order to reduce the time required, but in so doing the quality of the result is impaired primarily be cause the normal comb is applied to only one side of the lock and uniformity is difficult to achieve.

It is therefore the primary object of the present invention to provide a comb which will encircle a lock of hair and will produce faster and more uniform combing, the uniformity coming from the fact that comb teeth are engaging substantially all of the hair lock instead of that portion of the hair on one side of the lock.

Further and other objects, features and advantages of the comb of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred form of the invention which should be taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the comb of the present invention in use.

3,409,029 Patented Nov. 5, 1968 FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the comb of the present invention.

FIGURE 3 is a cross sectional view taken along lines 3-3 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged plan view of the comb showing the hinged member in an open position.

FIGURE 5 is an end view of the comb.

Referring now to the drawings, the comb 5 of the present invention is shown in FIGURE 1 as it is intended to be used. The comb is provided with an elongated handle 7 which protrudes from one apex of a generally triangularly shaped body 10. The body 10 is formed of three interconnected straight sides defining a central aperture in the body. The side 12 of the body opposite the handle 7 is provided along its outside edg with teeth 13 forming a straight comb which may be used for final smoothing and finishing of the hair subsequent to the backcombing. The inside edges of the three body forming sides are also equipped with coplanar teeth 15 forming an annular comb.

As illustrated in FIGURE 1, a lock of hair is positioned within the opening in the comb body and the lock is firmly held near the end thereof. With the comb teeth engaging hair all around the lock, the comb is stroked downwardly bringing the shorter strands of hair down into a mat at the scalp end of the lock. Repeated use of the comb brings the longer hairs into the mat until such time as the entire lock is systematically crumpled into the body of the hair mat. As the lock gets progressively smaller, the teeth on any one of the three sides may be employed to do the combing.

The preferred form of the device includes means for opening the aperture to permit easier placement of a lock of hair into the combing annulus and is shown in FIG- URE 4. The side 12 of the body frame is fabricated as a separate part of the body and is hingedly attached to one of the other two sides by a hinge 14. A snap fastener 16 located on the mating edges of the movable side 12 and the adjoining side is provided to keep the pivotal side 12 closed while the comb is being used.

I claim:

1. A hair styling comb comprising:

a Y-shaped body wherein the stem of the Y comprises an elongated handle and including,

a plurality of teeth in opposing relation and disposed along the first and second inside edges of the divergent legs of said Y-shaped body;

a third leg member having teeth in parallel rows on both longitudinal edges of said third leg member and disposed so as to bridge the divergent first and second legs, the teeth on the inner side of said third leg member being adjacent the teeth of the first and second leg members so as to form substantially a triangle.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein the third leg member is pivotally connected to said first leg member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 622,568 4/1899 Tochtermann 132133 FOREIGN PATENTS 19,888 8/ 1897 Great Britain. 541,316 7/1922 France.

LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner.

J. W. MITCHELL, Assistant Examiner. 

